rob mclennan’s second collection of literary essays, Notes and Dispatches, is another display of his vast range of reading contemporary writing. Following his previous collection, subverting the lyric: essays (ECW Press, 2008), mclennan navigates the confessional aspect of Lynn Crosbie’s Liar and the lyric of the American prose poem, the shapes of Camille Martin’s sonnets and Jay MillAr’s insect hopes, as well as the pastorals of Lisa Robertson and his own Glengarry County. mclennan explores aspects of writing, reading, and reviewing fiction, poetry, and non-fiction from a diverse range of locations throughout Canadian and American contemporary literature.